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Tuesday, 5 March 2013

Spa Day - Serenity Spa @ Seaham Hall Hotel

Inbetween doing my dissertation, assignments and preparing for exams, and of course tackling the weird and sometimes wonderful side-effects of pregnancy and preparing for a baby, I decided that I needed a day to chill out and switch off. My mam hasn't had a much better time, recovering from surgery on both her feet, after a doctor suspected she had skin cancer. She doesn't, and is back on her feet now. Hurrah! So we decided we needed to treat ourselves to a spa day.

Seaham Hall hotel is a 5* hotel on the cliff tops of the Durham coast. The Serenity Spa is not inside the actual hotel, it is the first building you come to when you enter the grounds. As soon as you go in, you're given a seat to fill in the necessary forms and you're offered drinks and fruit whilst they get your towels, slippers and dressing gowns ready. After the tour, you're free to go wherever you want. I was surprised when they told us that you can even go into the restaurant in your dressing gown if you wanted to! We started off by killing some time by the pool. The hot tubs outside looked amazing, although I was recommended not to use them whilst pregnant so I didn't get to see if it felt as good as it looked. Maybe next time! We had a dip in the 20-metre pool which was lovely and warm, and also has massage stations. I was quite happy just sitting at the massage station not doing very much before laying on one of the many loungers, reading magazines. There were also plenty of staff around to take orders for drinks (cocktails, smoothies, fruit juices and tea and coffee) for you. It really doesn't take very long for you to completely forget whatever stressed you out before you came here!

We were then met by our therapists who showed us to our room where we would be having treatments. The rooms are dimly lit (without being too dark) with candles. All products used on us were from Elemis. I'm usually a bit of a chatterbox when I'm getting treatments but it was game over before we started as I sunk into the heated massage bed, I was so relaxed I barely said two words. My baby kicked all the way through so I think the heated bed had his seal of approval too. After a foot rub, she gave me a neck and shoulder massage and moved onto the facial, which took about half an hour. I did not want to get off that bed when we were done! We were then taken to the 'relaxation station' (I'm not sure if that's what they actually called it or if I just made that up), which is just a room with lots of loungers facing the scenery outside and plenty of water and fruit available. We continued using the facilities for a while longer before having a lovely shower, blow-dry and getting dressed. Everything you need is available, including the shampoo, conditioner, shower gel, and a bag to put your swimsuit in after you've finished using it.Other features that the spa offers are:

Usually when you book a spa package, it includes a two-course meal in the O-Zone restaurant, which serves Asian food. The staff are very friendly and our food came really quickly. The views from the restaurant are lovely too, and there's a terrace to eat your food on when the weather improves. We both really liked our food and by this point we were definitely ready to go home and go to bed! I was out like a light when I went to bed that night and Craig even commented on my skin the next day saying how nice it looked and how soft it was. If a man notices, then that's a big deal haha. The treatments must have worked. Find out more about The Serenity Spa on their website, including the range of treatments that they do, their spa packages and the price list.